


Fallout: Rattletail

by HanarJelly



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:14:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29258775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HanarJelly/pseuds/HanarJelly
Summary: What happened in Baja? Who were the "ghosts" Chief Hanlon mentioned?
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

“NCR’s senate has got funds tied up at the Boneyard and President Kimball ordered our most experienced rangers to chase ghosts down in **Baja** ”

90 days until movement

“Damn pre-war shit, they never fucking work right.” Ranger Cayenne fiddled around with a rusted range-finder trying to loosen several screws to take it apart. Meanwhile, Ranger Than peeked through the scope of his sniper rifle, a .50 caliber bolt action that’ll turn your insides into jelly and crack skull as if it was glass. It had an enormous 27-inch barrel that would compensate for a spear should the user run out of ammo and a muzzle break big enough to knock out a 250-pound man with one slam.

When the New California Republic wanted something done and was out of diplomatic options, the Rangers were an absolute last resort set aside a full-scale invasion by an entire NCR division. But this was different. Six months ago while stationed in Arroyo preparing to deploy into the Mojave AO at Camp McCarran; just before initiating movement they were set aside and were quietly moved to Baja, a largely empty and barren NCR colony, emptiness for miles, followed by local tribes and towns refusing to be occupied by the NCR. So why on this soulless land would they be here instead fighting the most important battle since their war with the Brotherhood of Steel? Than played around with the safety of his rifle, scanning his sectors of fire with the built-in thermal vision of the helmet.

“My brother’s unit just got rotated out of McCarran, from the letter he sent me it didn’t look like it was going so well, half his company was vaporized by raiders in Outer Vegas. He was so angry when they moved out before they could do any effective change into the area.” Cayenne said.

“Why do you think we’re here and not back in hoover dam like we were a couple of years ago? The Legion should’ve been history at this point if the politics in Shady Sands didn’t tie us down” Than said, his trigger finger got tighter.

Every Ranger deployed to Baja felt a level of frustration. The Veteran Rangers more so as they were holding down the best the NCR had and squandered their experience and skill to….provide overwatch and kick down doors of tribal who barely knew enough agriculture to survive?

“Look all I’m saying Than is-“ Cayenne was cut off before their radio started blaring, “Cayenne, Than, what is the situation?” Cayenne quickly pressed the communicate button, “No change on the situation, Mantis company you’re clear to engage.”

Like a mole rat burrowing out to attack its prey, no less than twenty rangers donned in the elite black armor, the NCR Ranger combat armor, armed to the teeth with assault carbines, riot shotguns, and sequoias, stacked on the entrance to a building and kicked it down.

“I’ll never get tired of seeing that” Than let out a sigh before adjusting the zoom settings on his scope. The building was dead quiet, the only sound that was heard was the door being kicked down. He knew what it meant – either it was empty or the only people they are going to see is a normal family preparing for supper. That did not go well the last time, Than recollected the platoon leader having to issue out an apology and was stripped of his ranger status for throwing a flashbang and having his platoon gun down a family of 10 and their dog.

“Another cold case? God, I swear I wake up and it’s like groundhogs day, every day is the same, wake up, brief, workout, night raid, sleep, repeat.” Cayenne whined, her voice was often made Than twitch and roll his eyes. Than was baffled the day she was assigned as his spotter. Snipers work in teams, the sniper, the person behind the rifle pulling the shot, and the spotter, the person tracking the distance, windage, and verified targets before elimination. She also provided cover fire in case their position was compromised with her suppressed assault carbine.

Trust was non-negotiable. If the spotter or sniper disagree or don’t see eye to eye, at best they’ll collide and won’t be within sync among each other. At worst, one of them will get the other or _both_ of them killed. The team takes responsibility for any round that comes out on the other side of the barrel, not the sniper, the team. If they miss their shot and hit an unarmed civilian then the both of them will face a trial in front of a military tribunal.

“Hey, I got movement 600 meters northeast of the objective, party of two.” Cayenne zoomed in on her range finder. 600 meters away was flat land, roads, and several sandy hills nearby. Than aimed his rifle to the two bodies moving towards the objective.

“Spotted” Than switched from thermal to night vision, they were wearing cloth to drape their lower half and strips of rag to cover their shoulder. The two of them were carrying primitive firearms that reminded Than of rioters when they were trying to gun down a senator he was protecting. They were cheap and easy to produce, it just so happens when he pulled the trigger the pistol exploded right near his face killing the user instantly.

The rag was bright red and had the mark of an animal in the center that was luminescent and could be picked up from their night vision.

The mark of the bull. It could not be missed, the shape of a yellow bull charging within a red background was all but clear: they were part of Caesar’s Legion.

“Cayenne confirm with me the mark of the guy on the left, check the rag near his chest, that has to be the same mark those legion fucks have on their banner.”

“There’s no fucking way we’re miles away from any Legion territory, there has to be a reason” Cayenne soon doubled back on her statement.

“Yes I see it, they’re starting to walk faster too, what the hell do we do?”

“Didn’t we broker a peace with the legion? Imagine the backlash if they found out we killed their men. If any senator gives us shit we’re done we’ll be mining coal in Redding until radiation stops being a problem.”

“No, we just killed so many of them there wasn’t anyone left to negotiate peace talks.”

“I’m taking the shot.” Than said,

“Are you fucking crazy? Didn’t you hear what I just said? Besides they’re just walking for all we know they could just be citizens who didn’t know what that meant, there’s no way this is a good idea.”

“It is 3 am at night and we are in some remote tribe there is no way they’re here to visit the neighbors and ask for sugar, they’re here to bring trouble.” Cayenne yielded before looking back at her range finder.

“Wind looks good, about 3 mph, you’re going to be shooting now about 550 meters.” Than moved his scope to adjust for the moving target and to compensate for wind. Time slowed down for him as he inhaled and exhaled, making sure to remove all of the oxygen in his breath before giving the 3.3-pound trigger a firm squeeze with the pad of his finger. The .50 tracer round soared into the air flying with impeccable speed before landing into the man. The tracer quickly bounded and before even a second passed the body dropped.

“Clean body shot.”

The other man stopped walking, looked at his now dead friend, and hauled ass for dear life.

Than racked the bolt hearing a nice heavy _thunk_ from the .50 round ejecting onto one of the rocks before adjusting for a follow up shot. Than once again repeated the same breathing and squeezing technique before the tracer spun out of the rifle and landed in approximately the man’s leg from Cayenne’s rangefinder. He tumbled and fell clawing to hold on for dear life before Than finished the job.

“Cazador-five this is Mantis-eight just shot two targets approaching AO.” Command took a couple of seconds to relay before responding.

“Roger Mantis-eight make sure to file your shot locations in your action report.”

“Confirmed.” Cayenne put the radio down as the veteran rangers exit the building empty-handed.

“Looks like I was right nothing but cold hands, you owe me a beer later when we get back.”

“I never said I…alright fine let’s get a drink after we get back.” Than looked up from his rifle to see the ground team exfiltrating from the area with a radio beep indicating it was their turn to leave shortly.

What is the Legion doing in Baja? Whatever the NCR investigator finds out after dealing with the local complaints and property damage he’ll get his answer, or maybe he’ll end up with nothing but sweet nothings about how it was just coincidence they were wearing legion apparel.

Than got up, picked up his rifle, and groaned.

“Just another fucking day in Baja.”


	2. Chapter 2 85 Days Until Movement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We found legion, boys.

“Your name, rank, affiliation, and last duty station before coming here,” The military police major, Major Konni looked at the terminal, staring daggers as if he was hiding something.

“Than Vo, New California Rangers, Arroyo Delta Station Ranger Armory,” Than couldn’t help but feel a little guilty even if he wasn’t doing anything wrong. The officer corps took any chance they can to fuck over the enlisted. Especially the military police. They look after their own and aren’t particularly fond of the rangers who seemingly cause trouble wherever they go.

“Rank?” The Major asked again.

“Sir, you know well that rangers give up their rank upon transfer.” The major stood quietly for a second. He looked at Than before rubbing his chin, possibly looking for more ways to get something out of him. Just before the major could move his fat mouth Than muttered “oh thank god,” when he saw the familiar duster and blue jeans he’s grown so accustomed to.

“Patterson just let him in. I can vouch one of the NCR’s most elite snipers isn’t about to turn against us.” Ishmael, a fellow veteran ranger, came in, and before anything else, he tapped Than on the shoulder.

“Come on, Mantis Company is already briefing the mission, let’s not keep them waiting,” He smiled as the two walked through the door leading to the briefing room. As much as the MPs asserted, they had no real power when it came to the rangers and especially not to those who have been veteran rangers longer than they have been on this godforsaken wasteland.

“Some random lieutenants claiming to be working on an investigation for the department inspector general barged into the office after we compiled and submitted the mission report and within a couple of days later we all get called into the emergency meeting we are walking to right now,” Ishmael opened the door to twenty-five veteran rangers all sitting next to each other and the deputy chief of the region, and a person Than was not familiar with.

He or whoever he is, had a stiff posture, his hands aligned to the seams of his hands gripping the air, and his eyes darting around. The man sported a two-piece khaki suit, the usual NCR service uniform. His boots were spit-shined brown leather despite the dusty environment of Baja, his tie was neatly folded, and his peak cap which shined the two-headed bear and star. The gold bar lapel on his collar indicated he was a second lieutenant. Than tried to hide his grin, second lieutenants or “butter bars” were the babies of the officer corps. They often had to be babysitted by their sergeants and in this lieutenant’s case, it clearly showed; he looked like a deer in the headlights.

“There’s our favorite New Canaanite and sharpshooter, you’re late and the Lieutenant uh” Deputy Chief Londo Agassi is the battalion commander for 7th Ranger Battalion, Mantis Company, and by extension commander of all rangers stationed here as they were the only unit stationed in Baja.  
Than has known Agassi ever since he arrived at the battalion, from his very first day to now, Agassi has always shown up to company, platoon, and even squad level meetings; taking notes and getting on the same level of understanding with the leadership executing the operations, all the while making sure not to take over or to undermine the command authority his leadership possessed.

He ruled with almost unlimited authority but trod carefully with every decision. Agassi has been a ranger for over 30 years and before, he spent several lifetimes with 1st Recon. Despite his age, Agassi had a muscular body, so much so to the point, it looked like his arms were going to pop out of his uniform. To add, rangers and attached conventional liaison were amazed that he was able to keep up with the troops on the ground. His black hair and comb-over made him appear much younger than others in his peer group and combined with his lax attitude towards the troops he was very much someone you could approach if you had a problem. Many people refer to him as just “chief” as a sign of respect. If anything, Agassi can be easily recognized by the sound of the spurs on his boots as they jingle jangle.

“I-It’s Ha-akiem s-sir” Lieutenant Hakiem looked down at the ground as he was talking to the deputy chief. Agassi who took notice of Hakiem body language put a hand on his shoulder.

“Oh come on lieutenant, you’re in a room full of rangers twice your age, loosen up, we aren’t like those over the top candidates from officer candidate school right guys?” The room roared in cheers before Agassi had them settle down for the mission briefing.

“So for the past several months I’m sure you’ve realized command has been jerking us off, whatever intel we can get our hands on is faulty or a complete clusterfuck. All the after-action reports I’ve gathered from Mantis Company has just been a string of tribal dinners being ruined, not to mention complaints across Baja about men in black armor breaking down doors and holding them at gunpoint.” 

“This shit changes today boys,” Agassi grinned like a devious child pranking their younger sibling. He pressed on a projector which spewed out a daytime shot of two a dead body. The first one resembled one of the men Than killed as they were approaching the area.

“Hakiem show them what you found,” Hakiem walked into the center, with over a dozen gazing eyes it was almost as if he was going to have a breakdown.

“L” before he could even get a word out a ranger from the back yelled at him to speak louder.

“t-there's potential evidence legion may be in Baja.” The lieutenant choked his briefing, Agassi came back and chuckled. He cleared his voice and talked slowly, Than lifted an eyebrow, something big was about to come out of his mouth and it wasn’t another one of his jokes.

“You all hear that? LEGION in our territory, those slimy snakes managed to sneak their way onto our territory, are we going to let that happen?” The room exploded into chaos as soon as Agassi clarified the situation. Mixes of excitement, rangers acting unhinged making noises, some “fuck yeah” and “we’re going to kick their asses”. Hakiem freaked, holding his arms up in a guard pose and looking at the ground when the rangers’ excitement peaked.

“The hell happens now chief?” a female voice shouted among the rowdy crowd; Agassi laughed.

“What happens now? We’re going to kick their ass so fucking far by the time we’re done they’ll be swimming back to Arizona and the New California Republic will wish it had rangers half as decent as Mantis Company out there in the Mojave putting Caesar’s head on a pike!” Mantis Company cheered. This was it, after months upon months of false hope, pointless expeditions, and general bullshit that has left a group of gung-ho killers riled up and ready to charge at the first thing they see.

“What’s your plan chief?” Than spoke out for the first time, while he managed to engage with an overzealous crowd, so far he has seen nothing of substance. 

“Leadership will be working with me and Hakiem, the lieutenant here is in charge of the investigation and found several suspects that are linked with the men you, Ranger Than, so graciously served us up on a silver platter,” Agassi turned off the projector.

“Rangers….ATTENTION!” All 25 rangers in the room unanimously stood up from their chairs, arms straight, making a fist with each hand, and looking straight forward.

“Dismissed.” The meeting came to an end and the squad up to company level leadership stayed and huddled around Agassi. Than stood up from leaning on one of the walls and walked out.

“Than! Hey, wait up” Cayenne grabbed Than’s shoulder. 

“See? When have I ever been wrong with my shots?” Cayenne matched Than’s pace as they left the building and entered the Baja outdoors. Baja was a bone dry, hospitable, and arid environment. 20-30 years ago it was possibly one of the worst possible places to live in even by post-war standards. Baja was colonized by a couple of NCR citizens moving south and was initially only a scrapheap with a body count of five. The town was eventually evacuated and laid desolate until it was picked up again as a civilian/military expedition to establish a permanent presence in the region. In the many years past, water routes have been established, trade is persistent in the region, agriculture flourishes, and more and more people are moving into Rattletail to escape the heavy taxes of areas like Vault City and Junktown. Many settlers also come here to be “free” from NCR rules and regulations; Than did not feel the same way, “Is it really free if you’re stuck in a barren wasteland?” He thought to himself, nevertheless, it was a fresh of breath air being in a small town.

“Are we heading back to the dorm? I can’t wait to take off the goddamn armor, it gets so hot after a while, and I’m feeling for some iguana-on-a-stick and there’s usually a line after meetings so…” While Cayenne was rambling, Than looked across the street to a group of men in black business suits. While not completely odd it was strange to see formal wear in a colony town where the environment largely demanded functional clothes over aesthetics. Than’s eyes widened upon further inspection, they were carrying firearms on their backs, notably shotguns and carbines.

“Hey what the hell,” Than muttered before one of the men went to reach for his shotgun. Than quickly moved Cayenne out of the way before drawing a .223 pistol and placed three rounds center mass and before he could reach for his weapon the man collapsed on the ground screaming in agony. 

“Get to cover!” Than screamed before running to a nearby mailbox on the left as Cayenne took cover on the right behind a statue as the rest of the men begin firing on them. The streets exploded into gunfire as people started screaming and running, several MPs who were in charge of protecting the station mindlessly ran out to check before being mowed down. Than made visual eye contact with Cayenne, making a three with his fingers and using his over finger to point up suggesting a timed peek to maximize gunfire.

“Three….two….one” Than and Cayenne both peeked out at the same time and unloaded the rest of their rounds, Than three rounds and Cayenne seven with her .45 pistol. By the time they finished, three more have died and the last person left shooting charged directly at Cayenne with a trench knife. 

Cayenne grabbed the man’s hand and made a chop motion with her other hand causing the man to cry in pain dropping the knife before receiving a punch to the neck, effectively neutralizing him.

“Hey, you good?” Than ran out, cocking his pistol before a platoon’s worth of soldiers stormed the area and immediately began blockading and confiscating weapons.

“The fuck happened down here?” Major Konni ran out with an escort of MP soldiers before barking orders for them to start investigating.

“Your security team got the worst of it, ran right into enemy gunfire,” Than tapped Cayenne’s shoulder moving his head towards the other direction, indicating it’s time to go.

“Hey, you can’t leave, there’s an investigation now.” Than gave Konni the stink eye before leaving. Konni raised his eyebrow but ultimately could not do a thing, nobody could, the Rangers were always one tier above them.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lieutenant decides to be in a position of authority

A/N: I’m in the Army and my unit was in the field (training grounds) this weekend so I did not have access to my computer. Thank you all for reading so far! It means so much to me to even have people pay attention to my work!  
“Come on lieutenant, it was a joke,” Agassi attempted to make amends with Hakiem who angrily followed Agassi back to the mission briefing room. Inside the room was the remaining handful of leadership, platoon sergeants, platoon leaders, and the commander and first sergeant of Mantis Company.  
“Sir, that was ridiculous I was practically ridiculed in front of your team!” Hakiem practically crumbled under the Agassi’s gaze. The deputy chief sighed before immediately snapping into action.  
“Everyone sit down except you, lieutenant,” the lieutenant was taken aback. A million things ran in his mind, was he going to be ridiculed more? Shamed? Embarrassed? While he thought of the endless amount of words he wished to spit back at the chief, Agassi walked over to turn on the projector.  
“We all had our fun with the recent news, and even more so that they just thought they could just walk in and shoot our home, we won’t go quietly, the Legion can count on that. Now I want everyone to take down notes and pay very close attention to the lieutenant’s briefing. I will be asking questions after and I expect you all to be passing this info down to the rest of the men and having lower-level leadership pass it down to those who were not present at this meeting,” Agassi turned to Hakiem and gave him a warm smile.  
“Go on son, you are the officer in charge of this, it is your mission.” Agassi walked to grab a seat.  
Speechless. Hakiem was surprised at this complete change of heart from the chief. For a second he questioned if he was hallucinating after the first embarrassing meeting and if somehow the air was filled with chems. Now he has the eyes of the entire ranger leadership looking at him. Hakiem rushed to grab out his notepad and almost dropping it if it were not for his quick reflexes. He scrounged and flipped through several pages on the notepad reading it as fast as he can and cramming information he already spent several days remembering.  
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  
“Stay calm, rangers can sniff the fear out of you, act confident and they will do just about anything for you,” an instructor from the ranger preparatory, training and selection course told him.  
“Around eight in the evening, two rangers, Than and Cayenne, shot and killed two armed men from a sniping position…,” Hakiem stood straight, paced his talking, and slowly lost the fear in his voice as his briefing continued. He closed his notepad and began to make consistent eye contact with the leaders of Mantis Company who were dutifully scribbling down notes, never once making wisecrack jokes they did before.  
“After several interviews, investigations, and contact with insider sources, we, the 440th Special Intelligence Detachment, has discovered a tribe is bidding to join Caesar’s Legion and is amassing an army of men with instructions from Caesar to destroy the Rattletail colony to prove their worth.”  
“What tribe is it?” A hand rose, Hakiem moved the projector around to show the leaves of a palm tree and a handprint in the center painted on a large rock with several bodies of NCR troops laying around.  
“The desert walkers, a native tribe to Baja with over a hundred strong. They are a hostile tribe and have been attacking any NCR patrols near them. They are extremely dangerous, highly motivated, and if sources are correct, are being trained by legion attaches,” he took a deep breath, clearing his head and doing his best to make the big loud social anxiety voice in his head quiet.  
The next slide in the projector had several big red crosses on several spots on a map.  
“What are these? Enemy hideouts? Supply caches? Come on lieutenant,” The first sergeant shot daggers with his eyes.  
“I’m getting to it first sergeant,” Hakiem raised his voice.  
“These are potential enemy hideouts and weapon cache locations, estimated enemy count to be about a squad’s worth per cache location, eight to ten men primarily armed with melee weapons such as spears and knives but are also known to carry rifles, explosives like dynamite, and possess indirect fire capabilities including but not limited to grenade launchers, and 60mm mortars with high explosive rounds.  
“Where the fuck are a bunch of rag-wearing tribals getting mortars?” The platoon sergeants whispered among each other.  
“That concludes my briefing,” Hakiem held his hands behind his back like a grade-schooler hiding contraband before Agassi got up and patted his back.  
“Great work son, you’re dismissed,” Hakiem walked far enough to the point where leadership could neither hear nor see him before falling on his knees and breathing heavily. He pounded his chest before throwing a fist in the air in celebration.  
Agassi went back to his seat and pulled out a tiny handbook with the title “RANGER” on the cover. He flipped through the booklet until he reached a spot that correlated with what Hakiem just presented.  
“I expect everyone to be reading and to be fully aware of the mission. From what Lieutenant Hakiem has briefed us we will be conducting a series of raids. I want this information passed down onto the men and I want you all here, company-level leadership, to begin preparing as I issue out an operations order that will detail the plan,” Agassi closed his handbook before standing at the position of attention.  
“RANGERS…ATTEN-TION!” Company leadership jumped and stood at attention looking straight at the wall.  
“Dismissed.” Agassi looked outside the window, it was neighed nighttime, and before he knew he was the only one left in the briefing room. He cracked his knuckles before sitting down and turning on the terminal in the back of the room.  
“Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,” Agassi yawned before typing away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, if you were wondering, the book Agassi is holding onto is the infamous Ranger Handbook, my unit worships it more so than the bible.


	4. 3.5: OPORD

ROBCO INDUSTRIES UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM  
COPYRIGHT 2075-2077 ROBCO INDUSTRIES  
-Server 1-  
TACTICAL OPERATIONS CENTER  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
> Quartermaster supply request 5/11/82  
> Command Climate Survey 4/29/82   
> Promotions List   
> Operation Temperate Erosion (CLASSIFIED)  
> Sniper Section Commendation Recommendation 

…………………

> Operation Temperate Erosion (CLASSIFIED)

…………………

TERMINAL LOCKED  
PLEASE ENTER YOUR SIX DIGIT PIN

…………………

******

…………………

(CLASSIFIED)

Copy 1 of 1 Copies  
Mantis Company, Seventh Ranger Battalion  
Baja, NCR  
05 MAY 2282

OPORD 9L/75008 – Operation Temperate Erosion

Time zone used throughout OPORD: Pacific Standard Time (PST)  
Task Organization: The Seventh Ranger Battalion, Mantis Company, will be the main effort for this operation   
1\. Situation  
a. Area of Operation: AO GOBI  
b. Area of Interest: Central Coast Desert (CCD)  
i. Terrain:   
1\. Obstacles: Mountains, rolling hills, sand, temperature, and humidity will restrict movement to objective. 

2\. Avenues of Approach: Camino Freeway provides vertical travel across the CCD. Main supply routes (MSR) arena, and feria will be the used to enter into the AO and can be accessible by mechanized vehicles. Pre-war roads run through the mountain and can support multiple vehicles at a time.   
(CLASSIFIED)

3\. Key Terrain: Enemy safehouse supply points marked with tribal insignia occupy in several areas in AO GOBI, to the left of the supply points is Islas El Pelicano, south of AO GOBI is the ruins of San Locovia, a major pre-war city in Baja. Northwest of AO GOBI is the NCR settlement Rattletail, and to the right of AO GOBI is unchartered territory, mountains, and unpaved roads. 

4\. Observations and Fields of Fire: Rolling hills prevent visibility in excess of 200m, rangers will be able to travel in a platoon column fire team wedge across hilly terrain and the camino freeway. 

5\. Cover and Concealment: Mountains, hills, and loose vegetation allow for units to remain unspotted and conceal from any enemy forces.

ii. Weather  
1\. 25MAY: HI 90, LO 35. 4% Precipitation.  
a. BMNT: 0620  
b. Sunrise: 0645  
c. Sunset: 1750  
d. EENT: 1815  
e. Illumination: 65%  
2\. 26MAY: HI 95, LO 40. 4% Precipitation  
a. BMNT: 0620  
b. Sunrise: 0645  
c. Sunset: 1750  
d. EENT: 1815  
e. Illumination 66.5%  
c. Enemy Forces: NCR ground intelligence indicates a tribe known as the Desert Walkers has possessed freedom of maneuver throughout AO GOBI for years. The Desert Walkers utilize ambush, hit and run, and other methods of unconventional warfare and display high motivation. Enemy forces are composed of a company sized element with over 100 tribals and are equipped with spears and firearms. Uniform are shirtless rags with a strap over their chest and sheet metal covering their right arm. Senior high-ranking leaders are known to display an animal bone as a shoulder guard on their left shoulder. Enemy forces may have indirect fire (IDF) capabilities in form of 60mm HE mortars. Tribals that occupy the region   
(CLASSIFIED)

maneuver in 8-10-man teams. Enemy forces’ most likely form of action is to entrench and fire back. Enemy forces’ most dangerous course of action is utilizing indirect fire against friendly forces.

d. Friendly Forces: Second battalion, 49th mechanized infantry division will be supporting the main effort through troop transport, quick reaction forces, and resupply capabilities. 

e. Civil Considerations: AO GOBI is home to hundreds of civilians who are trying to live an ordinary life. They are sympathetic to NCR forces and will try to help if possible.

f. Attachments/Detachments: N/A

2\. Mission: The Seventh Ranger Battalion conduct raids on Desert Walker supply caches in the vicinity of AO GOBI in order to destroy enemy freedom of maneuver and presence in the region. Destruction of enemy forces will allow the NCR to provide more reinforcements into the Baja region and will allow for total occupation of the Baja peninsula. 

3\. Execution:  
a. Commander’s Intent  
i. Purpose: To reduce the manpower of the Desert Walker tribe to null and allow for complete occupation of Baja by friendly forces.  
ii. Key Tasks:  
1\. Destroy all enemy supply points  
2\. Report to higher headquarters of possible legion attaches  
iii. Endstate: The Desert Walker tribe is destroyed, and any potential legion presence is diminished. NCR will deploy more troops into the region for follow up missions.

b. Concept of Operation:  
i. Phase 1 (Planning): Battalion HQ and staff will finalize an operations order draft NLT 15MAY2282. Ranger intelligence will survey the area and it will be disseminated to company level units with confirmation NLT 20MAY2282.

ii. Phase II (Preparation): This phase begins NLT 15MAY2282, rangers will conduct weapons, gear, and equipment inspections. Water resupply routes will be established NLT 20MAY2282.

iii. Phase III (Execution): Operation Temperate Erosion is initated as soon as ranger forces infiltrate into AO GOBI NLT 0300 25MAY2282. 

iv. Phase IV (Recovery): To be determined once the battalion commander. 

v. Scheme of Maneuver:

1\. Mantis Company will enter the AO with mechanized vehicles for the first iteration and offload before beginning troop movement. 

2\. Mantis Company will destroy all enemy in AO GOBI with unrelenting force.

3\. Once enemy forces and supply points have been destroyed rangers will embark into vehicles and move back in the same way.

vi. Task to Subordinate Units:  
1\. Mantis Company:   
a. Is the main axis for the supply point raids  
b. Destroys all Desert Walker tribals and allow freedom of maneuver for NCR forces.


End file.
